Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season
I can't myself see any reason why they couldn't easily make it to the top if they could show the same respect to the smaller teams.
true. that's easier said than done though. that's infact one of the 2 main differences between a top club and a midclass club (the other reason being the money). a top club handles every game with the same focus, hunger and determination, no matter what opponent they're facing.
this juventus team for instance (despite the thin roster) already has a proper top club mentality, because they will display the same intensity and the same attention to detail, wheter they're playing against real madrid or chievo. napoli still has to get there. but then again that's normal. infact we might even say napoli are doing a terrific job, speaking of mentality. sure they had some false steps during the season, but the fact that they were still fighting for the 3rd place till the very end of the year (in a season in wich they also had to play in champions league for the first time) speaks for itself. no italian midclass club has ever handled so well the league and the CL. so they're not "there" yet, but they've already done much better than any serie a midclass club has ever done, in terms of focus and mentality.
the real problem is the money. we tend to believe that the gap between great midclass clubs and top clubs isn't that big. napoli is the perfect example actually. we've seen napoli spanking serie a's top clubs for a few years now.... and this season also european fans have noticed what a nice team this is, whenever they measured themselves up against some european giants (like man city, chelsea and bayern).
but the thing is, u see what kind of financial resources clubs like chelsea, man city and bayern can count on, and you know those clubs will still be there 3, 4, 5 years from now..... with a club like napoli instead there are no such guarrantees.
time is not a problem for top clubs... for midclass clubs instead time is a big limit, as it works against u.
quick example; a club like bayern doesn't have to worry about their youngsters development and their future replacement, because, no matter how much muller will develop, no matter how great a player he will be 3 years from now, bayern still will be able to afford his contract renewal. the same doesn't apply to napoli instead. a club like napoli only has a limited time, a limited number of years to build and develop a great team... and to reap the rewards of their good job. because eventually their best assets will outgrow the club (to be more specific, they will outgrow the club's financial power).... and by then napoli won't be able to afford a contract renewal... they will have to let their best assets leave for greener pastures..... and by then they better have some other young promising player ready to take that spot.
what i'm trying to say here is that we could picture the club growth process as a staircase. but the last step of this staircase is huge, it's much bigger than all the other steps put together.
because u can actually
build a great team with very limited resources. but in order to
keep that team together you're gonna need twice the money u used to build that team.
solid planning, smart management, a good scouting network and a great academy can only help u get very close to the gotha of european football... but in order to make that last step and become a top club u will need money.... a lot of money.
again napoli is the perfect example. thanks to a smart management, a great scouting network, and top notch coaching staff they were able to put together a team with the likes of maggio, lavezzi, cavani, hamsik, inler, gargano, pandev and so on. and they built this team with smaller annual incomes than wigan (wich, as i recently discovered, is the poorest club in epl, incomes-wise).
despite such small resources, they were able to build a team wich can measure itself up against some of europe's biggest powerhouses. all of this thanks to their great management.
but there's only so much great management can do for you. a good scouting network and a great director can spot talented players before the competition gets there.... and getting there first makes all the difference in the world, because it allows u to get a player like lavezzi for 6 millions euros or a player like hamsik for 5 millions. but once u sign them, have them playing for your team, developing their skills and getting the attention of european top clubs, then u're gonna need money to hold them.
at that point money is the only thing that matters. because no matter how good your directors are, they won't be able to hold a player like lavezzi, when top clubs are kocking at his doors, offering him an annual wage wich is more than twice higher than what he's getting right now.
to give u an exact idea of how big is really this "last step" i'm talking about, check out this numbers. to sign lavezzi, cavani, gargano, hamsik, inler and maggio napoli spent 54 millions euros (that's 43 millions pounds). that's a substantial commitment for a club like napoli, but since they built this team over the years, adding 1, 2 pieces at the time, they were able to afford it.
however all theese players are right now on "reasonable wages" (wich are the only kind of wages a club like napoli could afford). cavani and lavezzi get 2 millions per year, inler and hamsik get 1.5 millions, gargano and maggio get 800k per year.
but over the last 2 years, along with their skills and reputations, theese players improved their appeal and now top clubs are already starting to charm napoli's players with offers that napoli could never match. as a result of that, once their contracts will expire, their demands will be much higher.
let's imagine napoli could offer to each of theese players a wage twice as big as their current one. we would be talking about a 4 millions per year contract for cavani and lavezzi, a 3 millions contract for hamsik and inler, a 1.5 millions deal for maggio and gargano (wich aren't even real top club-like figures, as a player like cavani could easily get more than 4 millions per year in a top club).
well a 4 years extension for each of theese players (with theese figures) would cost napoli around 90 millions. amortize that sum according to the years of contract (4) and u end up with a financial commitment of about 22 millions euros per year.
now u can easily realize a club whose incomes are 60 millions per year can't afford to burn one third of that sum only to keep 6 of its players.
so that's the real issue. the only way for napoli to become a "top club" would be to compromise their financial balance. but that's not gonna happen. because financial stability is the nr. 1 priority for serie a midclass clubs today.
we learned this lesson the hard way, about a decade ago. financial recklessness brought fiorentina and napoli to bankrupt and several other clubs (lazio, roma, parma) scarily close to death. and there's no way serie a club owners will repeat the same mistakes.